The Superman Fallacy: Owners Who Try to Do Too Much

You might not say it out loud, but in your heart, you feel it: your company is a beloved child.

The hard work and sacrifice, the capital invested and hanging on your every move, the aspirations dear to your clients and employees make it that valuable. Naturally, you want to maintain your hand on the wheel and a close eye on the chart. It’s too risky to do otherwise.

However, there’s also a danger in trying to do to much. Superheroes are a myth; they’re a bit of a lie. In running your advisory, it’s essential to know how much to do and when to delegate. It may be hard and indeed, our featured author says that if you’ve turned a startup into a going concern, you’re already something like a real-life superman (we take this term to be gender-free). But spreading yourself too thin creates a challenge that needs to be met, as successfully as all the others.

Failure to respond can actually throttle the growth of your beloved company. Some owners fear building a firm to the point where they’re no longer needed – all those tip-top professionals you’ve hired can manage by themselves. Not so, says our author. In fact, you’re needed more than ever. It’s your role that needs to change.

As the firm evolves, so must you. The late President George H. W. Bush famously described the key element in winning an election, and more importantly, leading the country: “the vision thing.” That describes your new role: envisioning the company’s grand strategy by elucidating a vision for its development. The hands-on aspect of running day-to-day operations can be left to others, but only you can chart the course that everyone will follow to the future.